April 12, 2016

I've been stuck in Hardware Town for at least 2 weeks now. Real-life time, that is. For Mitchell, it's been more like one very hellish version of Groundhogs Day. He wakes from the moldy mattress, steps down to the floor level through a hole in the ground, meanders through the streets of Boston, and then, inevitably, gets murdered instantly by some manner of wasteland horror.

Sometimes it's a raider who gets lucky. Other times it's a stray landmine. Most often, though, it's just me making careless mistakes that once upon a time could be rectified with a quick Stimpak or by stuffing my face with ancient soda and cooked cockroach meat.

But this is Survival Mode, which takes the rather benign but fun challenge of Hardcore Mode from New Vegas and cranks up the dial about 10 times. So in Hardware Town, I still remain.

The sheer multitude of things that can kill you in Fallout 4 has not changed, but the safety net of quick saves and rapid healing has been effectively yanked out from beneath, leaving an utterly brutal, sometimes seemingly unfair experience. The kind that causes me to, almost without fail, turn off the game every time that familiar third person death screen flashes. Even now I write this after yet another failed attempt to escape from Hardware Town. Truly, I am not stuck there. Diamond City is a hazard-free walk away, with its warm beds and plentiful water and cheap food, all of which are now required to live.

But what's the point of Fallout without doing quests? So I labor away at the same couple jobs, all bound to the local area, thinking that it will be simple. Or it should be. But as I've already established, Survival Mode makes the once simple task of clearing a given spot of raiders a test of patience, good aim, and awareness.

"I have lost count of how many times I've died in Fallout 4's new Survival Mode!" ~ Henry Lombardi

February 25, 2016

A Reddit user ShaneD53 uncovered all the details about the Survival Mode from the in-game files of Fallout 4. Even Bethesda Game Studios confirmed over their Twitter that the given information is legit, stating; Our fans are too smart. Early look at #Fallout4 Survival Mode on @reddit. We’re still messing w/ it. More to come!

Survival mode in Fallout 4 upend many of the rules of life in the Commonwealth for a maximum challenge, such is combat, fast travel, weighted ammo, sickness, fatigue, etc. For a full list of these changes, see below.